No Contest in Mich. Woman's 1986 Slaying

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, January 6, 2003

A man has pleaded no contest to the 1986 slaying of a university professor, two years after DNA tests linked him to that crime and the slaying of a flight attendant.

Jeffrey Gorton, 40, entered the pleas Monday to charges of first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder and criminal sexual conduct in the slaying of Margarette Eby, 55, a provost and music professor at the University of Michigan-Flint. He will be sentenced next month.

The plea came one day before the trial was to begin and it surprised Gorton's lawyer, Philip H. Beauvais II. He said he was seeking a deal with prosecutors to have Gorton plead guilty to second-degree murder.

"Never in my wildest dreams would I ever believe (Gorton) would enter a plea on first-degree murder," he said.

Gorton already is serving a life sentence for raping and killing Northwest Airlines flight attendant Nancy Ludwig in 1991. Five years earlier, Eby's nearly decapitated body was found in her bedroom. She had also been raped.

Gorton was arrested last year after police said they matched his DNA to samples found at both murder sites.